$*@%*@@^ technology!

A few days ago, we were in what was once one of the remotest towns in America, Kanab, Utah, in the wilds of the Colorado river canyon system, just 40 miles from the impenetrable Grand Canyon. Now that there’s a road there, it’s become somewhat of a crossroads, but still, there’s not much human activity outside the town itself. Yet, in Kanab, Utah, our hotel had free wireless Internet, with a nice, high speed connection.

Today, we’re in one of the most crowded metropolitan areas in the world, in a much nicer hotel, near the birthplace of computer technology, and wireless internet costs $10.95 a night. Not only that, the service is hideously slow and unreliable. Downloading a single Web page can take five minutes, and you’re liable to lose the connection halfway through. I’ve been reduced to using my backup dialup service, calling an 800-number across the country to connect, and still getting better connection speeds than my hotel’s “high-speed” service. What’s up with that?